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Sprenger gives Aussies a golden boost

Veteran breaststroker Christian Sprenger has restored some much-needed individual glory to the Australian swim team with 100m breaststroke gold at the world championships in Barcelona.

The 27-year-old London Olympic silver medallist broke through for a deserved first major international title on Monday, seven years after first appearing on the national team.

It is Australia's first individual success at a major international meet since James Magnussen's 100m freestyle win at the 2011 world titles in Shanghai.

The squad failed to win an individual gold medal in London for the first Olympics since Montreal in 1976.

Sprenger's performance came on a strong night for a team looking to bounce back from its London disappointment, with a gutsy Alicia Coutts overcoming her opening-night relay pain to claim two more silver medals.

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With sprinters Magnussen and Cate Campbell also strongly placed for individual success in Spain, and swimmers noting a considerable improvement in team spirit and culture at the meet, Sprenger hopes his victory is a sign of things to come.

"For me, getting this first gold medal at these world championships is an absolute honour and I feel like I've really helped the team to lift to a new standard for this world championships," Sprenger said.

"The first one's the hardest to get for the country and I feel privileged to be that person.

"As a team this year, we've been so much better.

"Our team has obviously had some setbacks last year but ... we're going to be back and we're going to be strong."

The Australian sat on the lane ropes with his arms raised in the air after a race he said felt almost perfect.

It was the biggest win of Sprenger's career after several minor medals, including an impressive silver at last year's Games and a 200m bronze at the 2009 world titles.

Sprenger considered retirement at the start of 2011 but opted to continue on.

And, with the help of coach Simon Cusack, he emerged as the world's top-ranked breaststroker this year and lived up to his billing as favourite in Spain.

"To finally have the Australian anthem played for me, it's just an amazing feeling," Sprenger said.

Coutts helped Australia's women's 4x100m freestyle relay team to silver behind the US on Monday night but burst in to tears after the race, feeling she'd let her teammates down after being overtaken on the final lap.

However, her coach John Fowlie helped put the swim in perspective, pointing out the she's produced her fastest ever relay split in what was her fifth swim of the day.

She bounced back admirably, clocking 56.97 seconds to finish second in the 100m butterfly final behind impressive Swede Sjostrom (56.53).

She then backed up for her seventh race in two days to claim another medal in the 200m individual medley final, hanging on bravely for second spot in 2:09.39 behind Hungarian Katinka Hosszu (2:07.92).

"I literally gave that race everything I had," said Coutts, who's now claimed a staggering 19 medals at international meets since 2010.

"I gritted my teeth as much as a could and that's all I had left tonight."

Thomas Fraser-Holmes (1:47.21) and Cameron McEvoy (1:47.31) booked a spots in the 200m freestyle final but the latter had to rely on a rival pulling out of a swim-off after he tied as eighth fastest qualifier.

Sally Foster and Sam Marshall missed out on the 100m breaststroke as Lithuanian teenager Ruta Meilutyte produced the swim of the meet so far, breaking the world record in the semi-finals.

The 16-year-old clocked one minute and 4.35 seconds to shave a tenth of a second off the mark set by American Jess Hardy in a supersuit in 2009.